No one has had a better vantage point to see 22 years' worth of changes to the course than Peter Pierson. His home on Glenwood Terrace in Cromwell overlooks the 16th green at the TPC at River Highlands.
But, really, the course formerly known as Edgewood Golf Club has always been his home.
Pierson's grandfather, Wallace, was one of the founders of Middletown Golf Club in 1927. Peter's father, Andrew, became owner of Edgewood in 1949. Thirty years later, Peter and his mother, Harriet, and his brothers Drew and Roger took over.
In 1980, the Greater Hartford Jaycees commissioned golf course architect Pete Dye to view several courses in Connecticut to replace Wethersfield Country Club, site of the Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open. The Jaycees needed a more challenging course for the pros and more land to accommodate the increasing crowds and corporate inclusion.
Edgewood was the choice.
"There was that ACC golf connection with PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman from Maryland and Drew from Wake Forest," Peter said. "Drew saw him at a PGA convention in New York and told him if he ever had a problem at Wethersfield, we had a course that he should consider 10 miles away.
"So Pete Dye comes over one day in 1980 and there was a huge rainstorm that dropped two to three inches in a couple of hours. There were ponds all over the course. We go in for lunch, and by the time we came back out, the ponds were gone. Pete later visited with the Jaycees and the corporate lenders and said, 'I've just seen a course that was hit by a hurricane and you still can play it.' "
Dye said he saw a "gem" in Edgewood with its excellent drainage and 168 wooded acres, including an eight-acre pond. The Jaycees signed a 14-year lease with the Piersons in 1982.
"It came at a good time, not only for the Jaycees, but also for us," Peter Pierson said. "We were going to get hit hard with town taxes, and when you're putting in 60, 80 or 100 hours a week working at the course, that's tough, too."
Two million yards of dirt were moved and about 2,500 trees removed as part of the changeover from Edgewood to the TPC of Connecticut.
"We have no bitterness of not owning Edgewood anymore," said Pierson, director of the Connecticut Association of Golf Course Superintendents.
Pierson, 60, was superintendent at the TPC of Connecticut in 1984-85 and a course superintendent consultant at Pequabuck GC in Bristol for one year. He became the full-time superintendent at Pequabuck in 1987 and held that position until his retirement last October.
Now he's a part-time course superintendent consultant at Madison CC. Drew and Roger remain in the golf business (their parents died in 1981). Drew, 62, owns a golf club fitting and consulting company in Wilmington, N.C. Roger, 59, is an independent golf merchandising representative in Denver.
The Piersons say a pivotal part in the transformation of Edgewood came in 1988, when the PGA Tour bought 52 acres in a former gravel pit along the Connecticut River. Two years later, the tour paid the Pierson family $2.1 million and assumed the mortgage of the TPC of Connecticut. The change of TPCs, from Connecticut to River Highlands, had started.
"The Jaycees, particularly Ted May [Buick Championship liaison with the PGA Tour] and Henry Hughes [1975 GHO co-chairman and now the tour's senior vice president and chief of operations] have been nothing but wonderful in dealing with the changeover over the years," Peter said. "The course is a great design. And when I see the crowds out on 15 and 17, well, it's unbelievable. I'm at the tournament every year. I love to be out there and talk to people and see old friends."
A few tour pros have stayed with Peter and his wife, Sherry, during the tournament. When Pierson looks out from the backyard of the home where he has lived for 22 years, he still sees some of the old Edgewood. A few of the old tees and greens remain. And the third and seventh holes are the former 13th and fourth at Edgewood.
"Over the years, if one different scenario had happened, there wouldn't be a tour event in Connecticut," Pierson said. "Thank God that didn't happen. The GHO -- now the Buick Championship -- is alive and thriving."
Source: Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
